Crescendo of Hysteria
by MushroomWings
Summary: The group arrives to the Gateway to Attria, and the sacrifice cuts is much deeper than they thought.
1. Chapter 1: Literally Expositon

It had been some time since they had discussed their next move. Now, Hikari and Wrinkly sat on the deck of the ship, drinking tea and conversing about what happened on Hitobashira Glade.

"That's absolutely awful to hear," Hikari said, regarding the news of Orion's fate.

"What is?" Wrinkly asked saltily. "What he did, or the fact he died trying to save himself?"

"Well, both, but I was thinking more of the latter." Hikari swirled the contents of his cup around and took a sip thoughtfully from it. "Sodoma... doesn't seem to be taking it well. I am rather worried about her. Being kidnapped and then watching your captors kill your father in cold blood can't be good for your psyche."

"Not to mention the revelation he had joined their side to begin with nearly made her faint. I'm sure she'll be fine with time. Maybe a bit of therapy would be good for her too, now that I think on it."

XxX

The kids sat around talking themselves. The others had been informed of what had happened to Orion, and so were trying their best to keep the subject off of him. Sodoma had just finished recounting the information regarding Catasandre to them. They were all at a loss for words, especially DK.

"That's... wow," Dixie said. "I can't imagine having to live with that knowledge for any amount of time."

"That at least explains why Wrinkly wasn't too attentative when we came back for you two," DK added. "The more this stuff goes on, the more I can't help but think there's an even bigger connection than them having just known each other."

"I do remember Uncle Oiya having pictures of two identical little girls in his storage room. I asked him about them, and he told me one of them was Catasandre, but he wouldn't tell me who the other girl was. He just got a really sad look on his face," Sodoma recalled. "Sometimes I catch her lost in thought, and I can't help but think back to the picture and what he said. I don't know if it's just the family resemblence or what, but it does bring more questions to mind."

"All the evidence points to the same thing," Cherah said. "I think they're more closely related than what we're made to believe."

"You know, I can't help but wonder if Cranky knows anything," Diddy said. "I mean, she's his wife, right? Surely that's something she must have confided in him."

"I doubt it," DK replied. "If she think holding even the most minor bit of information back from anyone will protect you more than her, she won't tell it. If there's a bigger connection between her and Catasandre, he probably doesn't know."

XxX

K. Rool, admittedly, felt a little bad eavesdropping on the kids' conversation. To tell the truth, he honestly had nothing better to do anyway, and maybe he'd overhear something funny. What he didn't expect was the conversation that had actually taken place. The name Catasandre did indeed sound familiar, but he couldn't immediately place from where.

After a bit, he got bored of the conversation and began to walk around. Eventually the name seemed to all but disappear from memory until he came across Cranky.

"Hey, um..." K. Rool began, remembering Diddy's question about the island ruler's knowledge of the child. "Do you... do you know of anyone named Catasandre? I overheard the kids talking about them."

"Yes, I do," Cranky replied, blinking at him. "But not much other than that she haunts the forest in Port City and that Wrinkly had known her."


	2. Chapter 2: A Memorial, A Crescendo

"Wh-what?" Sodoma murmured, noticing the Sapphire Tear shining brightly. "What's going on?"

"We must be near Attria City," Cherah replied, watching as the three gems rose to the sky.

Each glowed brightly, and a flash of light enacted from them, their combined forces momentarily blinding the group. When their visions returned, three figures hovered above the artifacts, all wearing cloaks but strangely not wearing the hoods. All three turned to look at the group, arms spread, and eyes closed. Their appearances earned several gasps.

"Mama!" Cherah shouted. The figure above the Ruby Sun opened her eyes and smiled softly at the little girl. Cherah reached out her arms. "Mama!"

"Cherah, my little one, you are so brave," Elise pleaded.

" _Nii-san_ , who is that above the Crystal Coconut?" Hikari asked. "They look so familiar..."

"Grandfather?!" Cranky shouted, barely even registering his younger sibling's question. The aforementioned character nodded down at the two.

"Be good, kid," Rowan replied. "That's all I've ever asked of you."

"But then who is-?" DK asked, looking at the figure above the Tear.

The third and final figure bit her lower lip, clenching her eyes shut as tears rolled down her cheeks. She avoided looking at the group at all costs. She opened her eyes slightly.

"Catasandre?"

The others turned to Wrinkly, who slowly approached the hull of the ship.

"Cata?" she asked. The youngest figure placed her hands over her face. "Cata!"

Cranky stiffened when he saw the faint blue object appear on her forehead.

"Catasandre! Please don't ignore me! I'm sorry about what happened! Why didn't you just let them kill me instead?!"

The three figures disappeared. Wrinkly dropped to her knees, blue lines beginning to trace their way down her face. She began to run her hands through her hair, breathing heavily, trying to keep calm at all costs. Cranky jumped her then, and proceeded to drag her back into the ship. She desperately cried out the entire time, not wanting to be taken away from the spirit again.

But it was done. The jewels descended slowly back to the ship. Once the artifacts were safely back in the hands of a controller, the ship continued as if on its own. No one said a word. Everyone looked to one another, too shocked to even speak the words they knew had to be on their minds. After a few minutes, Sodoma was the first to speak.

"Why didn't she do that on Hitobashira?" she asked. "She seemed angry enough."

"Not only that, but I do remember after we did those trials she seemed really close to that same level of distress," DK said. "I have the feeling both of those times she was holding back because she knew what would happen."


	3. Chapter 3: Mechanism

It wasn't for another few hours that anybody bothered to check on the older couple.

DK had been the one to volunteer to go. The others had agreed, hoping that if Cranky hadn't been able to pull Wrinkly from whatever had consumed her, then hopefully her own child would.

He found them in a storage room. Wrinkly was currently unconscious, a favor which DK silently thanked any deities out there for, and had been placed on an abandoned sofa. Cranky sat on the ground in front of it, looking as though he were in deep thought. DK approached quietly, not wanting to disturb either of them, but his father caught sight of him and sighed.

"What we saw was a defense mechanism," he began. "Long ago, the Controllers were praised as the highest of nobles, even after becoming the rulers of their island. It's thought today that it was because the gems granted its user immense powers, even rivaling that of the Mages, and a lot of researchers believe it to be due to some sort of blood tie to the spirits within the stones. Because of this, they were seen as dangerous weapons if they fell into the wrong hands, so the Mages put in place a defense mechanism."

"Powerful magics."

"That's right. When enough of an emotional duress is put upon a descendant of a Mage, the mechanism activates. It's what we saw on the deck."

"Do you think that's what happened with Dixie on Credd Rock? That she has the blood of the Mage of Crena in her?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Cranky stood then, approaching carefully. "Neither of the other two times I've seen this, it wasn't as explosive as it was with her. But I can understand why hers resulted in what it did. We were lucky to not be destroyed ourselves."

"There were two other times you've seen this?" DK said, making the older male go pale. "What?"

"One of those times was, of course, the incident we saw up top. The other one..." Cranky started, stopping for a moment. DK saw it in his eyes that the memory still scared him. "I've told you my mother died when I was a child, correct?" DK nodded. "...During her funeral, her father tried to hit me. For why, I still don't know, but my own didn't take too kindly to the gesture. I'd never felt that much raw magic before. The whole event was overwhelming. To see such a mild-mannered man fly into that bad of a rage, it scared he fuck out of me. It was almost exactly like what happened with Dixie. A burst of magic, his eyes glowing... And then to see the act play out again twice within a few days!"

Crankly looked to Wrinkly worringly then, still out like a light.

"Is that how you knew to drag her away?" The island leader looked to his son, and nodded.

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt. If I did, that was fine, at least no one else had to endure it." His hands clenched into fists, and DK could swear his saw him shake a little. "I knew I wouldn't have the reaction needed. My grandfather died when I didn't have any siblings, and I only have the vaguest memories of him, but I still wish it had been me instead. I had expected it to be Cherah. It's my fault... I should have been more prepared for what happened. I should have inquired further about Inari's connection to the previous Tear holder."

"There's no reason to worry about it now," DK said, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "What's done is done. We have to focus on stopping the Lombado."


	4. Chapter 4: Sorrow of Wysteria

"Just so you know... I heard everything."

Cranky and DK both jumped at the voice, but turned to find Wrinkly sitting up with her back to them. Slowly, she turned to face them. It was quite rare to see her actually looking her age, but this was definitely one of those times and neither male liked it.

"Mom..." DK began, approaching her slowly. "You were sisters. Weren't you?"

Wrinkly was utterly silent, but she nodded.

"Not just sisters... We were twins," she finally managed to choke out. "We trusted each other with whatever secret we held, even if it couldn't be considered a secret. It never dawned on me until my own ability came into being, but she had been given the power of clairvoyence, so the secrets she always told me would consist of things she had 'guessed', such as about what time certain relatives would come over. And then..." She took a deep breath, hoping to drown the sob she felt building in her throat. "One day, she came to me with something even bigger. Cata told me she could see my own future, something she had never been able to do before. I'm only realizing it now, but the vision she recounted to me was exactly what played out on Hitobashira, both in my trial and at the fields."

"She didn't see herself, did she?" Cranky asked, to which she shook her head. "She probably recognized the appearance of the Lombado in her vision and became afraid of events to come."

"There's something I still don't get," DK said. "How could she tell it was you? Despite what people think, you look quite different than you did as a child."

"I don't know either, to be completely honest. I've just always assumed it to be her instincts," Wrinkly said. "A month after she told me that, she gave me the Tear and told me to always keep it with me, and keep it hidden even from our parents-one of whom, mind you, was the fucking island ruler who had the final say in the Controller choice!-until the time was right. And then a week later... she was gone, sacrificing herself to prevent the Lombado from getting what they wanted while simultaneously forcing her sibling watch her burn. I had always thought it odd they killed her and left me, but at least now her telling them I was the controller and not her makes sense."

"Wouldn't they have gotten suspicious when they realized you weren't acting how they wanted?"

"The defense menchanism does have one blind spot. If too much of an emotional burst takes place within the descendent's body, it won't trigger the magic that allows it to run," Cranky replied. "With a Controller, this can range from good to bad given the situation, but it's also the only way a non-Controller can access the jewel's power."

"With all these events in mind, " his wife continued, "it's blatantly obvious Orion's death was a result of Catasandre's. With her dead and myself not being an offical Controller, no response was elicited, leaving Sodoma to be the only one capable of giving it to them."

"His death was no one's fault but his own," DK said. "He was at fault for believing even the slightest that the Lombado would never turn on him. He was he one who made the deal."

"But it was Catasandre who forced the Lombado's hand in accepting the deal," Cranky added. He look to Wrinkly, whose face had grown solemn. "I don't mean to place the blame on her."

"You're right, though," she said.

A silence filled the room. It had lasted what felt like ten minutes before DK broke it.

"Why was I never told any of this?" he asked.

"There's people who aren't even members of the Lombado who would just love to see us and anyone we love dead," Wrinkly replied softly. "Every member of my family has a target on their back. That's why I left Aqua Reef behind in the first place, to shrink their chances of hitting the mark. The more I was able to convince people I was nothing more than a civilian who happened to get lucky and marry an island leader, the better hidden we were. If any of those enemies were to learn of our heritage emerging thanks to current events, then not even Diddy or Dixie would be safe. There's too much blood on my hands as is."

"So what do we do now then?" Cranky said. "The others are surely going to wonder even more about the connection between you and Catasandre, especially Sodoma. What you just said leaves telling them, and anyone really, out of the question."

"That's... Oh god. That's a REALLY good thought."


	5. Chapter 5: Attria City

No one questioned the events on the deck once the other three returned. They didn't want to, and figured it was better left to be explained later.

It was yet another hour to actually reach Attria City. They had expected chaos, but instead found something that resembled their own islands: peaceful villagers with orange and red eyes, going about their daily lives as though the islands were not in danger.

"I thought the only ones of the Lombado who wanted peace lived on the mainlands," Diddy said as they walked through the town, watching the people and the vendors interact. He in particular was focusing on a stand filled with fruits he had never seen before.

"History is written by the victors, Diddy," Cranky replied. "It just so happens that the Mages were the victors of that battle. Decius's memoirs of the events that split the lands makes the Lombado out to be savages who only want destruction. For all we know, the Lombado could have been a naturally peaceful race that were goaded into the war."

"You never did tell us what else you found amongst your research," Dixie started. "What did you happen to read about? Anything else that would have been helpful?"

"Yes, actually. Historians dictate that the war was apparently started over regional borders. Attria wanted to expand, but despite the fact it was so much smaller, the other islands didn't want to be diminished in comparison. The borders weren't even final, it had apparently been a matter of bad blood between the four before Attria stepped in."

"Makes more sense as to why they would split the islands," Cherah said. "To think such a horrendus war could have been caused by territorial matters."

"But, _nii-san_ , wouldn't that mean the the Mages were just islanders who wanted the borders to remain how they were?" Hikari asked.

"That's what I'm getting out of it," Sodoma answered.

"How could the knowledge that the big, bad, scary, nearly race-extincting War of Homura was caused by border problems be helpful?" DK questioned, kicking at a pebble as he watched a street vendor.

"It gives us a better idea of what the mastermind behind this may be aiming for in reviving the war," Cranky said. "My theory right now stands in destroying everybody when the other Lombadans are revived, and making the islands one again and taking it over."

"Reminds me of Endless Wings and the Lost Sea," Wrinkly responded dryly.

"It does sound like the same idea," Sodoma added. "I've got a bad feeling about all of this though. Something doesn't feel right."

It was only once Diddy collapsed to the ground did anyone figure out why, but none could react as the sky around them grew dark.


End file.
